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Paleontology

Fungi can be seen growing out of the head of an insect encased in 99-million-year-old amber.

Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences/NIGPAS

Zombie fungus-infected fly that likely lived among dinosaurs is preserved in amber

This week, see zombie fungi trapped in an amber fossil, explore the sun’s hidden south pole, meet tool-using whales that groom each other, and more.

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A drawing of what the Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae might have looked like.

Bob Nicholls Art

New dog-sized dinosaur species discovered

Stunning amber fossil reveals ‘Last of Us’-type fungus likely lived alongside dinosaurs

‘Dragon prince’ dinosaur discovery is changing how scientists understand T. rex

Tiny clawed tracks left in ancient mud are the oldest reptile footprints

Archaepteryx fossil under UV light

Delaney Drummond/Field Museum

A rare Archaeopteryx fossil was kept from scientists for decades. Its first-ever analysis reveals ‘one wow after another’

Astraspis-vs-Megalograptus-WEB-RES-Version-3k-Portrait.jpg

Brian Engh/Living Reproductions

Bumps on ancient, armored fish may have given rise to teeth in animals, study finds

Life reconstruction of Mosura fentoni

Danielle Dufault/ROM

Ancient three-eyed predator was ‘unlike any living animal’

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DTGN0M Megalosaurus jaw

Natural History Museum/Alamy Stock Photo

Megalosaurus, the first ever dinosaur discovery

Sue the T. rex strikes a pose in its old location at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. (Antonio Perez /Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Getty Images

What is a mass extinction, and why do scientists think we’re in the middle of one?

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Fig.-1-Eoplatypleura-messelensis-fossil-image-Photo--Senckenberg.jpg

Newly named ancient cicada fossil is so well preserved you can see the veins in its wings

The piece illustrates the disparity of the Northern and Southern hemisphere’s evolution of terrestrial Cretaceous faunas after the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum. On the left, End Cretaceous Southern Hemisphere (Western Gondwana) became dominated by Megaraptorids theropods and titanosaur sauropods. The centre of the piece summaries the extinction event of terrestrial fauna at the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, where the apex predators the carcharodontosaurids allosaurs went extinct and tyrannosauroids (including megaraptoran and the ancestors of <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>) were small. On the right, the end Cretaceous Northern Hemisphere fauna dominated by Tyrannosaurids (such as <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>), hadrosaurs and ceratopsian ornithischian dinosaurs. The environment also became more mesic represented by the landscape compared to the more semi-arid seasonal environment earlier in the Cretaceous.

Pedro Salas/Sergey Krasovskiy

T. rex ancestors crossed from Asia to North America via land bridge 70 million years ago, study finds

An artist’s impression of Kryroryctes at Dinosaur Cove, Victoria.

The surprising evolution of the weirdest animals on Earth, according to a new study

Anderson Lepeco

‘Extraordinary’ fossil reveals the oldest ant species known to science

Cat-like footprints from the John Day Formation of Oregon.

Fossilized footprints reveal unprecedented insight into prehistoric animal behavior in Oregon

An artists interpretation shows Deinosuchus riograndensis swimming with an early alligator relative in the wetlands of the Western Interior Seaway in southwestern North America, during the Late Cretaceous.

Márton Szabó/University of Tübingen

An ancient ‘terror crocodile’ became a dinosaur-eating giant. Scientists say they now know why

Reconstruction of a late Maastrichtian (~66 million years ago) palaeoenvironment in North America, where a floodplain is roamed by dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus annectens and Triceratops prorsus.

Davide Bonadonna

Were dinosaurs headed for extinction even before massive asteroid strike? Scientists offer new clues

Tone Blakesley/Scott Reid

Footprints show giant carnivorous dinosaurs and their plant-eating prey drank from same Scottish watering hole

SWEETWATER, TEXAS - OCTOBER 04: In an aerial view, discarded wind turbine blades are seen in a field next to the Sweetwater Cemetery on, October 04, 2023 in Sweetwater, Texas. General Electric filed a lawsuit against Global Fiberglass, claiming that the company has failed to recycle thousands of turbine blades discarded in a field on the west side of town. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Wind turbine parts may be giant technofossils that puzzle future scientists

Australian Museum © Salty Dingo 2020 CG

Salty Dingo/Australian Museum

Fossilized fish up to 16 million years old found in Australia, with last meal still intact

Holotype of Sirenobethylus charybdis

Bizarre creature preserved in 99 million-year-old amber was ‘beyond imagination,’ scientists say

These discarded objects will form humanity’s lasting geological footprint, paleontologists say

Duonychus Hand reconstruction

Largest fully preserved dinosaur claw unearthed in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert

IMAGE-spreading silicon for mould on Specimen 1.jpg

Courtesy The University of Queensland

‘Unprecedented snapshot’ of Early Jurassic dinosaurs has been hiding in plain sight at a school, scientists say

Original fossil (ATE7-1) of the midface of a hominin assigned to Homo aff. erectus recovered at level TE7 of the Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos).

Maria D. Guillén/IPHES-CERCA

Cave discovery reveals previously unknown prehistoric human population in Europe

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Massive megalodon was even longer than scientists thought

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